Term1809

A WPF terminal emulator for Windows, built on the Official Windows Terminal ConPTY backend and GPU-accelerated rendering engine. The terminal-integration code in this repository is an independent implementation written against the public ConPTY Win32 API and the Windows Terminal WPF rendering control — see LICENSE and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md. Targets Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 (build 17763) compatibility.

A terminal for Windows 10 version 1809 / LTSC 2019. Microsoft's official Windows Terminal requires Windows 10 1903 (build 18362) or later, so it cannot be installed on Windows 10 1809 (build 17763) or Windows 10 Enterprise/IoT LTSC 2019. Term1809 brings a modern, GPU-accelerated terminal — ANSI/VT, 24-bit color, tabs, mouse support — to those older builds. If you searched for "terminal for Windows 1809", "Windows Terminal for LTSC 2019", or "Windows Terminal on build 17763", this is what you were looking for.

Features

• Full terminal emulation: ANSI/VT escape sequences, 24-bit color, mouse support, GPU-accelerated rendering
• Windows-Terminal-style custom title bar with in-titlebar tabs (multi-terminal, via HandyControl)
• Tab / Shift+Tab passthrough to the terminal app (works on build 17763 — see docs/tab-key-passthrough.md)
• Ctrl+C copies selected text (falls back to interrupt), Ctrl+V pastes
• CJK IME composition window positioned at the terminal cursor
• File drag-and-drop pastes quoted paths into the terminal
• Detachable PTY: a live terminal session can be disconnected from one control and reattached to another, even across windows

Requirements

• Windows 10 build 17763 (LTSC 2019) or later, x64
• No .NET runtime needed on target machines — command-line builds are self-contained

Build & Run

Requires the .NET 10 SDK.

dotnet build Term1809.sln -c Debug
dotnet run --project Term1809 -c Debug

Project Structure

Term1809/
├── MainWindow.xaml(.cs)      # Tabbed multi-terminal UI, custom title bar
├── TerminalTabViewModel.cs   # Per-tab state
├── ProcessOutput.xaml(.cs)   # Delimited-output capture sample window
├── NativeMethods.txt         # CsWin32 P/Invoke source generator input
└── Terminal/                 # The terminal control (Term1809.Terminal namespace)
    ├── PtyTerminalControl.cs     # UserControl: XAML API, theming, native input hooks
    ├── ConPtyConnection.cs       # ConPTY I/O, process lifecycle, interceptors
    ├── DelimitedConPtyConnection.cs  # Buffers output until a delimiter is seen
    └── Internals/                # ConPtyHandle, ChildProcessLauncher, pipes, P/Invoke

Using the Terminal Control

xmlns:term="clr-namespace:Term1809.Terminal"
...
<term:PtyTerminalControl StartupCommandLine="pwsh.exe" />

Key properties (XAML bindable)

Some properties are write-only: the terminal state can be changed externally (e.g. by VT codes the running app emits), so reading them back would be unreliable — setting them always applies.

• StartupCommandLine (string, "powershell.exe") — full command line to launch, arguments included
• StartupWorkingDirectory (string, user profile dir) — working directory for the terminal process; null inherits the host app's
• Theme (TerminalTheme?, write-only) — colors, cursor style, etc.
• IsReadOnly (bool?, write-only) — ignore all input from the terminal UI
• IsCursorVisible (bool?, write-only) — apps emitting VT codes can re-enable it
• Win32InputMode (bool, true) — use Windows Terminal's win32-input-mode so key data survives the VT translation
• NavigationCapture (NavigationCapture flags) — which navigation keys (Tab, arrows) the control keeps from WPF focus navigation
• LogOutput (bool, false) — passively log the session; retrieve with Connection.GetBufferText()
• FontFamilyWhenSettingTheme / FontSizeWhenSettingTheme — applied when Theme is set
• Connection (ConPtyConnection) — the backend connection; swap it to migrate a session between controls

Key methods

• PtyTerminalControl.DetachConnection() / RestartConnection(useTerm, disposeOld) — detach or restart the backend session
• ConPtyConnection.SendInput(...) — inject input to the running app as if typed
• ConPtyConnection.EmitOutput(...) — simulate output on the terminal UI (e.g. render saved ANSI logs)
• ConPtyConnection.OutputInterceptor / InputInterceptor — delegates to inspect or rewrite data in transit
• DelimitedConPtyConnection.SetOutputDelimiter(...) — only release output when a delimiter is seen (discrete command capture)

Limitations

The terminal renders in its own native HWND (that is how Windows Terminal achieves its performance), so WPF content cannot be drawn on top of the terminal area — the same airspace limitation as WebView2. Context menus and separate windows work fine.

FAQ

Can I run Windows Terminal on Windows 10 1809 / LTSC 2019? No — Microsoft's official Windows Terminal requires Windows 10 1903 (build 18362) or newer, so it will not install on Windows 10 version 1809 (build 17763) or Windows 10 Enterprise/IoT LTSC 2019. Term1809 is built specifically to give those builds a modern terminal experience.

Is this the official Microsoft Windows Terminal? No. Term1809 is an independent project. It reuses the open-source ConPTY backend and the WPF rendering control from microsoft/terminal (MIT licensed), but it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.

What Windows versions are supported? Windows 10 build 17763 (version 1809 / LTSC 2019) and later, x64.

Credits

• microsoft/terminal (MIT) — ConPTY and the GPU-accelerated rendering engine that powers this project